"MONUMENTAL PUBLIC ART FOR SEA CHANGE!"

My nephew -- artist Matt Pollock! -- has information and invitation for you. That'd be you, especially if you're in the Boston area!

My dearest friends and family,

As you may know, I recently have become Executive Director at HarborArts, Inc. HarborArts is a collaborative, global community whose sole purpose is to protect and preserve our oceans and waterways by helping each of us to understand the issues and solutions facing our blue planet. HarborArts is a platform for dialogue; it creates the stage for creative individuals and groups to express themselves using monumental public art to create environmental awareness. We are HarborArts, Inc. - Monumental Public Art for Sea Change!

Starting in Boston, HarborArts, Inc. sees its call to action attracting worldwide attention as it increasingly plays host to public art projects, community events, a marketplace for reclaimed materials, educational programs that further HarborArts’ goal of helping people understand and respect our valuable water resources, and hosting an International Outdoor Gallery of monumental public art. Nowhere else can the public visit and view art while engaging with an active working shipyard. HarborArts effectively utilizes our waterfront neighborhood to invigorate great civic pride for communities neighboring Boston Harbor. Located on the Boston Harbor Walk, the site of this outdoor exhibition offers views of downtown Boston and the Seaport District. Equally, HarborArts is part of the vista from the Boston waterfront, with clear sight lines to it from the city’s landmark contemporary art museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art.

Right now, I am organizing this year's HarborArts Festival. HarborArts, Inc. is hosting the Two-Year Anniversary Celebration of the grand opening of our Outdoor Gallery in the Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina. The shipyard sculpture park opened in 2010 with our exhibition of 30 large-scale outdoor pieces of public art by artists from three continents, curated by Randi Hopkins from the ICA. The International Outdoor Gallery is a collection of “art with a purpose.” I would like to invite you to engage in this celebration with us and the Boston art community on September 22nd, 2012. In 2011, our festival brought nearly a thousand visitors to the pier, and we expect many more this year. The festival will honor the current international exhibition as well as the local arts with food, drinks, activities, art, vendors, live music, performance, galleries and much more.

As well as your attendance at this event, I would also like to invite each of you to participate in this spectacular Festival. Right now, I am $2,500 short of my pre-festival goal. I have launched a RocketHub Campaign to try to make it to our goal. By raising $2,500 for the festival, it will cover the leftover expenses of production and raise that much more for "Monumental Art for Sea Change" on the day of the event!

I wish you all well, and I hope to see those of you who can make it on September 22nd, 2012!

If you can, help us reach our goal for HarborArts Festival 2012 - Check out the RocketHub link below and pass it along. Thanks!

Please pass this link along to family and friends. Thanks!

http://rkthb.co/10407
Warmly,
Matthew

Always lovely to have artists in the family! And, of course, Go GREEN!

MOI & MOM

BLISS, here, is defined as working concurrently on two book designs for one book by Mom and one book by Moi. 

This seems like such a logical state of affairs, ever since Mom noticed me as a toddler folding pieces of paper that I would align into a shoebox -- I was making books, according to Mom, and putting them onto a bookshelf.  Was I even two years old at the time?  Faith--one of the most precious things we can give our children, or anyone.

Here's Mom when she was a college student at Silliman University, working on a Master's Thesis that would become one of the earliest investigations of "local color" in Filipino English-language literature ...:

Here she is more recently reading, of course, a book!  (She was reading my THORN ROSARY at the time):

Thanks, Mom, for all your faith in my books (though I likely, ahem, will not send you my newest one).  I hope you like the design Michelle and I are putting into your own first book, DAWAC. 

A first book at age 82!  Mom, you are an inspiration!

50 SHADES OF GREY

Well, actually, NOT QUITE.

I'm still drafting the blog for what looks to be my next book, 5 Shades of Gray (Yes, Gray, not Grey). But I'm sharing it now because it's tickling me (though not with a feather).  Yes, this would be a poetry collection under my favorite category of "What I Do To Amuse Moiself"!

Plus, if you need a chortle, I do recommend the referenced YouTUBE video of Ellen Degeneres reading this global bestseller. I mean, can you believe this book's numbers!?  It topped (no pun intended, if you know what I mean) Harry Potter for Xmas' sake!

(For my book, be careful of typos in the URL.  If you typed 500 instead of 5, for instance, you'd end up ... elsewhere ... chuckle)

INTRODUCING GALATEA'S HONEY

So, after the honey was collected in a bucket by the extractor (see prior post), we jarred the honey in jars today!  The thousand-words-plus commences:

First, here is said bucket, with more smushed honeycombs that we placed atop it to leak out those last few drops:

Here's a honey-covered spatula which, yes, I did lick...

Here's Tom as he moved honey from the bucket to a jar:

Here's our very first jar!  It only took three years, one demolished hive and one junked harvest to get here--yes it deserves a rose from the garden, which is to say that rose probably also is in the honey:

The final tally?  Nearly 17 pounds in 16 jars and two mini-containers (we are researching labels as we speak):

Last but not least: the conclusion of vanilla ice cream and Galatea's organic honey -- a potent mix!

And why does this belong on this blog, a poetics blog, you ask?  Well, Dears, color is a narrative.  The dark-amber color suits many of my poems.  This also is very dense honey, with said density also like many of my poems.  That's the best I can make up for now!  I'm too distracted by the above dish!

And a Sweet Sunday to you too!

OH HONEY!!!!

So very excited!  Unlike how I write my poems, harvesting honey took a looong time.  It took us about three years to accomplish!  We actually had one prior successful "harvest", but we didn't bottle the results soon enough and itjust became gunk.  Well, this weekend, we harvested the honey, to wit--a thousand-plus words:

I washed these honey jars moiself and they eagerly awaited all week:

This morning, Michael and Tom began the honey harvest under my supervision (hah):

Do feel free to admire the solar fields while you tour this part of Galatea's mountain, and as you see below, Tom is smoking the bees coz smoke apparently calms them (it's important to calm these bees -- they're marauders; they comprise the second beehive and when they got here last year, they ate the honey and then the bees (!) of the first beehive):

Yes, of course the hive is painted in Colombia's colors:

The hive was stuffed with honey. There were three levels but we only emptied the top level so as to leave honey for the bees' winter fare.  We like all the aminals on Galatea to be plump and happy!  We only ended up, therefore, with six frames of honey:

Here's what they look like before they're "uncapped":

The uncapping process is when a knife scrapes across the top of the frame to take away honeycomb wax:

Here's Michael clowning around with the uncapping knife:

Here's Dad carefully watching over Michael as he wields said knife:

As you can see below, our honey is going to be a dark-amber color:

The uncapped frames of honey next are placed into an extractor below.  The extractor whizzes around for a couple of hours or so spinning honey away from the frames.

The spun honey then will be emptied into a screened bucket, per picture below.  The honey in the bucket will then be transferred to jars:

Aptly, hanging above the extractor is one of Michael's Father's Day drawings, this one of a beekeeper and his hive painted in Colombian colors:

That's it for today.  Tomorrow, we jar the honey!  Woot! I can't wait!

We also began researching labels -- when we get the results, naturally I'll post!

KUDOS TO THE LOVELIES AT UGLY DUCKLING PRESSE

I read a lot of contemporary poems. I read across prize-winners, big names, no names, poets I know, poets I don’t know, et al. At times—too many times—I read a book and think, Oh, I’ve read something similar like this before. It’s interesting when I think this about a national prize winning book and recall that that “somewhere” was published by some small, indie press who’s not likely to have the distribution of someone publishing the winner of a national contest. Then I know that the prize winner likely may get credit for something that, actually, had been done before (and even better) by a more obscure poet. Nothing new here, of course. But I feel like nota bene-ing it because:

If there’s one press whose publications never elicit the feeling of this type of déjà vu, I’ve noticed it to be Ugly Duckling Presse—I get the impression they’re trying to do something fresh with their poetry pubs and, guess what? They succeed! So, kudos to the Ugly Ducks!

And here’s another update of my Recently Relished W(h)ine List below. Note that in the Publications section, if you see an asterisk before the title, that means a review copy is available for Galatea Resurrects! More info on that HERE.

SUMMER/FALL CITY SLICKER HARVEST
1 fig
11 yellow tomatoes
9 plum tomatoes
11 jalapenos
7 cucumbers
8 strawberries
3 sprigs of mint
30 yellow squash
14 eggplant
9 zucchini
4 bell peppers
0 plums for the season—because the birds et ‘em all!


PUBLICATIONS
WILLIAM BRONK: BURSTS OF LIGHT: THE COLLECTED LATER POEMS, Ed. by David Clippinger (especially as it’s a “collected,” this book made me so HAPPY! It makes me so happy to see a poet get it right … among other things, it validates a lifetime of poetic struggle, and that’s never easy. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

COMMON TIME, poems by Chris Pusateri (fabulous, deeply engaging, absurdly intelligent and enchantingly witty—which is why it just became the third title I’m reviewing for the next issue of Galatea Resurrects!)

* AS LONG AS TREES LAST, poems by Hoa Nguyen (long admired the tensility of her poems. She makes it look easy, this making of poems as flexible steel)

FURTHER ADVENTURES IN MONOCHROME by John Yau (gold, deeply mined)

* MAYBE A PAINTER, poems by Christina Fisher (nice social-ness)

THE SILVER BOOK, poems by Jen Bervin (enchanting)

ABSOLUTE ELSEWHERE, poems by James Davies and photography by Simon Taylor (deceptive. Despite its slim and small chap-iness, has a huge expanse. Admirable)

* RUSSIA IN 17 OBJECTS, poems by Julie Gard

* THUNDERBIRD, poems by Dorothea Lasky

RUST OR GO MISSING, poems by Lily Brown

BODY OF WATER, poems by Erin M. Bertram

LOTS OF CANDLES, PLENTY OF CAKE, memoir by Anna Quindlen

THE COST OF HOPE: THE STORY OF A MARRIAGE, A FAMILY, AND THE QUEST FOR LIFE, memoir by Amanda Bennett

THE EXPATS, novel by Chris Pavone

BURIED SECRETS, novel by Joseph Finder

1222, novel by Anne Holt

PARANOIA, novel by Joseph Finder

BLACK LIST, novel by Brad Thor

LOST DOGS & LONELY HEARTS, novel by Lucy Dillon

MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS, novel by Rae Meadows

SONG OF MY HEART, novel by Kim Vogel Sawyer



WINES
2006 Pirathon shiraz Barossa Valley
2002 Hutton Vale Grenache Mataro Eden Valley
2007 G3 Burge Family Winemakers Barossa Valley
2004 Samuel’s Gorge McLaren Vale shiraz

POEMS FOR BIG, BURLY MEN!

I'm stuck at home as have to be around while this young guy fixes the air conditioner. He thought it cool I am a poet, and joked maybe I could write a poem for his girlfriend. Instead, I said that I’ll “fix him up” with an entire poetry book! (I have some-hah) signed to his girlfriend after he finishes the repair. That’s what poetry books are good for, you know—to ensure the repairmen (aka: “Big, Burly Men”) do a good job...


When I’m not out there shoving my books at Big, Burly Men, I’m buying other poets’ books! You should, too! In fact, I just ordered from Horse Less Press’ Two-Chaps-For-$14 Special (that’[s a good deal!). I ordered Rebecca Loudon’s and Norma Cole’s chaps! Speaking of which, here’s my latest update to my BOUGHT POETRY LIST (publications bought since I last posted my list):

MORE ADVENTURES IN MONOCHROME by John Yau

CRAZY BRAVE: A MEMOIR by Joy Harjo

MUTATING THE SIGNATURE: QUARRTSILUNI, edited by Dana Guthrie Martin and Dave Bonta

THE COUNTRY ROAD by James Laughlin

POEMS 1955-1959 AND AN ESSAY IN AUTOBIOGRAPHY by Boris Pasternak

BONESHEPHERDS by Patrick Rosal

YEAR OF REVERSIBLE LOSS by Norma Farber

OUR LADY OF THE RUINS: POEMS by Traci Brimhall

FABRIC by Richard Froude

THE SOFT PLACE by Kate Schapira

CLOUDFANG :: CAKEDIRT by Daniela Olszewska

HERE IS A MINI-PARADE by Kate Schapira and Daniela Olszewska

SCENTED RUSHES by Nada Gordon

REGARDING WAVE by Gary Snyder

SILENCES: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF LOSS by Eileen R. Tabios

Yes, dears, I also occasionally buy my own books (which is good news as this means that I had to let go of my own inventory for some good cause like gifts or, in this case, because someone wants to review it!). But while I don’t mind giving away poetry books (especially to Big, Burly Men), it’s always special when someone buys them—you poets know what I’m talkin’ about!


P.S. I'm about to order Rene Ricard's LOVE POEMS because I was moved by Jack Kimball's post on him--love that idea by John Wieners: the time to write about love is as aftermath...

POETS ON ADOPTION IS FRESH

with, this time, the POV of a birth mom -- I welcome it as most of the other contributors are adoptive parents or adoptees. Listen to Danni Ingle HERE.

Does poetry make poets more able to handle paradoxes? (As it has for me...) Because adoption is a combination of loss and joy...

SUNDAY DESK SNAPSHOT (8/19/2012) aka ANTI-EFFACEMENT

Picking up my Sunday Desk series where I show what my desk looks like each Sunday. Yesterday, it looked like this as El Hijo commandeered the family computer all weekend to work on a biology paper:

I love that he's starting out the schoolyear with a great attitude. When we did a Saturday break to go shopping for back-to-school supplies, he also worked during the car ride on an English assignment related to increasing vocabulary. So he had a group of words he had to define and use in a sentence. I'm still smiling over our discussion over the word "efface." The sentence he finally came up with was:

"When I am embarrassed in front of people, I want to efface myself."

He said that out loud, then wrote it on his assignment paper, then paused before going on to the next word to explain, "Mom, of course that's just fiction. If I embarrass myself in front of people I don't really give a crap."

I thought about chiding him over the word "crap" but he's a 16-year-old boy and, honestly, who gives a crap. Instead, I praised his attitude because a person not afraid of getting embarrassed, of taking risks, may go further. Besides, read my blog -- see how many times Moi puts herself in a position of possibly being embarrassed. Instead, her loving Peeps usually cooperate and a project is created! To think I once was a shy, self-effacing type. Well, I'm glad that phase didn't that last long -- there are many disadvantages to being said self-effacing type and one of the biggies against it is that it's simply not ... interesting.

Michael, at a minimum, is not just guapo but interesting. Life is good!

MOI SON, THE GLOBAL CITIZEN

Woot!  Michael and his compatriots' summer internship has gotten some neat media coverage, including HERE!  It's illustrated with a photo showing the interns (click on tiny group photo icon atop the article).

So proud of the Dude.  Here he is at a Mom-Son lunch I took him to after he returned from Nicaragua.  We checked out a new restaurant and, after he looked around, he said he was "the only kid" there.  I looked around, too, and, Yep, it was a nice French place populated by Ladies-Who-Lunch.  I hadn't realized that about the restaurant but, Whatever: I told him that, as with sending him to Nicaragua, I wanted to raise  him to feel at home anywhere.  Anywhere.

I do with parenting what I do with poetry: just wingin' it ... but the key is to wing up with mucho Amor.  Wings!

"... LEARN SO MANY WAYS"

Very grateful for this new review of my collaboration with the brilliant j/j hastain, the relational elations of ORPHANED ALGEBRA. It's written by Zvi A. Sesling and here's an except:

[Tabios] states, “…how could I not be moved by orphans – how could I remain a poet and not write about orphans? Thus, the “ORPHANED ALGEBRA” poems.

In an essay entitled "Engaging My Trans', hastain states, “I identify as Trans/Genderqueer (both in terms of physiology as well as text). …I speak of my own philosophies of Trans as someone who identifies as Trans. By Trans I mean never only feminine nor only masculine. I mean that you need you to not need me to be solely a woman or a man. I mean embodied-motility. I mean morphability. I mean mutability. I mean please inquire tenderly before assuming. I mean please have your desire to contact me be rooted in our working collaboratively to create future spaces that can include an even celebrate all bodies that in any way transgress the social norm.

As Tabios explains, “Indeed, j/j is moved by xir own circumstances to create new pronouns to reflect xirself. While, as reflected in references to xir, j/j currently uses such pronouns as “xir” and “xe” to reflect “gender free” pronouns that are socially accepted.

And I will stop here and simply urge readers to read and re-read this most fascinating of books I have engaged in a long time. Read and learn so many new ways.

I do hope you check out our book, which is quite unlike anything I'd written previously ... because if I'm going to be blessed by the Muses to be prolific, I want each book to be ... unexpected.

DA MAN

Ahead of school starting tomorrow (so soon!), Michael began soccer tryouts/practice yesterday.  For which he got a new pair of shoes!

Speaking of green: Meanwhile, I've joined the PTA (though they don't call it that anymore) as Treasurer.  Yes, because Poetry makes me a money expert.

I used to think, by the way, that Poetry is the hardest (and easiest) thing I've ever attempted.  It's not.  Parenting is the hardest task I've ever experienced.  And that teen puberty?  Boy oh boy did it make me want to kick balls....wink

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

The International Examiner's review of CARLOS VILLA AND THE INTEGRITY OF SPACES, Edited by Theo Gonzalvez, hearkens a key component of Meritage Press' vision: expanding the light on what deserves our attention. The review begins:

How could this be? After reading Carlos Villa and the Integrity of Spaces, edited by American Studies Theodore S. Gonzalves, I was left wondering why, until this collection of writings, there had not been any significant acknowledgement of artist and teacher Carlos Villa in Asian American and mainstream art history scholarship.

Well, after all, you don't actually go to the canon to figure out what's really going on.  Check out the review HERE and, more importantly, check out the important Carlos Villa HERE.

SIGN UP ... POEM

I’m happy to share a poetic reminder of a worthy cause, petitioning for Bill Lavender to remain Director of University of New Orleans press. Please sign at https://www.change.org/petitions/provost-louis-paradise-keep-bill-lavender-as-the-director-of-uno-press


Here is a poem by Anny Ballardini for Bill Lavender:

Erynnis funeralis

             For Bill Lavender

The life of a person is made of nothing: a smile, a little kindness, a peach, an ex-student’s postcard with a thank you, the book of a friend in your mailbox. What disruptive forces can uproot precarious equilibriums steadily, tirelessly built, day by day, year by year, night after day after night: dismissals, cuts, hate growing and growling in increasingly suffocating spiraling guts, thick sticky envy, filthy strangling jealousies. Power, never enough, emerging from stagnant ignorance, the superficial projection of incompetent people, their finger raised, the hammer slammed.

The Moirae will be knocking for you.

Dies Irae, the furies strike madly howling, the clock hits the hour of doom. Homer: “those who beneath the earth punish whosoever has sworn a false oath,” Burkert: “an embodiment of the act of self-cursing contained in the oath.” Born from the power of the Sea with the blood of Uranus’s genitals in black Nyx, Alecto’s, Megaera’s, and Tisiphone’s serpents will slide poisonous in your dreams. Athena, engulfed by the advancing mud does not want to help, the frightening Erinyes will eat you down always at your back.

© Anny Ballardini
Homer’s and Burkert’s quotations were taken from Wikipedia.

RECOMMENDING CHRIS PUSATERI!

As I've said before, I don't assign myself poetry books to review.  I just try to read as widely as I can and then whatever engages me into writing about them end up being the poetry pubs I would have reviewed!  So, there I was this morning waiting for someone.  And whilst waiting I went to Galatea Resurrects' laden -- I mean, overflowing! -- bookshelves of review copies and just took out Chris Pusateri's newest book, COMMON TIME to pass some time...

Well, reader, it was so engaging (I suggest you click on above link and order it for yourself!) that it ended up being the third title I will have reviewed for the next issue of Galatea Resurrects!  There are such gems on those bookshelves -- why don't you poetry lovers and critics check them out HERE!

SIGN & REPRESENT FINE LITERATURE!

So I'm sitting here enjoying the first English-translations of Venezuelan poet Jose Antonio Ramos Sucre, winner of the 2006 Rufino Blanco Fombono Prize, translated by Guillermo Parra and published by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS press! Which is why I signed this petition and you should too! Here's letter from petition organizers:

Authors, translators, editors, scholars, and readers of fine literature,

As you may well have already heard the University of New Orleans Press has just recently been put on "hiatus" and its innovative and energetic editor, Bill Lavender, fired. The presumptive reason concerned budget constraints, but in fact the Press was cost free, and gained UNO a significant reputation for the past five years (since Bill Lavender’s tenure). It also published an international range of writers, many of them prize winners or otherwise notable. As you are probably aware, Bill Lavender had taken a rather lifeless creature in 2007 and enlivened it with over 80 publications, a remarkable achievement
In support of UNO Press, Bill Lavender, fine literature and good reading, please consider signing a petition indicating your support. The petition has many more details concerning the recent (5-6 day) history of events.

Petition site:
https://www.change.org/petitions/uno-president-peter-fos-provost-louis-paradise-and-dean-susan-krantz-keep-bill-lavender-as-the-director-of-uno-press-4


There was a significant item in The Times Picayune and one in Inside Higher Ed in the past few days:

Times-Picayune:
http://www.nola.com/books/index.ssf/2012/08/visionary_director_of_uno_pres.html

Inside Higher Ed:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/08/06/university-new-orleans-plans-put-university-press-hiatus

Chronicle of Higher Education:
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/director-of-u-of-new-orleans-press-loses-job-amid-budget-cuts/46549

You may also wish to pass this information on to other writers through a blog, facebook, etc., or even write personal letters to the President and Provost of UNO:

Provost Louis Paradise, lparadis@uno.edu

President Peter Fos, pfos@uno.edu

Thank you,

Marthe Reed
Skip Fox
Anny Ballardini

GARDEN AVATAR

Got two poetry manuscripts in progress.  Started a novel.  Started a new poetry project focused on "lines."  That is, got several things commenced ... but none close to fruition yet.  Just like the garden.  On a pear tree, the first pear reveals iself greenly:

Here's a cantaloupe-in-progress dwarfing the even later watermelon:

Some house grapes ripening:

All watched by some sculptures, this one of Michael (yes: gave the sculptor a snapshot of his face):

And here's the ever-patient huntress, Artemis:

I'm an immediate gratification kind of gal.  But I am not minding, for once, this kind of waiting ... (okay, it helps that the next book is impending ... grin)

THAT ONE POEM

can still be a HUGE WORLD!

Did you know that Galatea Resurrects is not just open to reviews of poetry books but of a poem(s) from a poetry book?  That's right -- if you are compelled to deep-read a single poem instead of the entire poetry collection, we're still interested in featuring your review or engagement!  Review copies HERE (of course you get to keep the entire book even if you review just one poem from it).

John Bloomberg-Rissman offers an example in the current issue of Galatea Resurrects.  One author, Neil Aitken, even says that John's review of just one poem is still one of the most comprehensive prose written on his poems....

One poem, huge impact!  That's always been one of the best parts of poetry.

PLURAL-IZATIONS

‘Twas a recent pleasure to read Christopher Stackhouse’s manuscript, PLURAL, forthcoming soon from Counterpath Press. He asked Moi for a blurb, and here’s the unedited one I came up with:

These poems break down because they seek to extend poetic expanse. And they want to expand the poem because they want to mirror a very "multiple" world, much of which the poet did not create but wants to acknowledge. They acknowledge by eliciting a new "trace" of activities which exist outside of authorial determination. The activities referenced encompass paintings, literature, conversations -- but they're all just part of what's being acknowledged through exploration: humanity. That's how a short poem entitled "Short" can come to move seamlessly from being short 75 cents to gazing at computer porn, from standing in a Korean deli to seeing the image of a white ass imprinted on one's inner eyelids. In other poems relying more on fragments, the fragments cease being parts to become parts-of. Despite fragments, breaks, and ruptures, the achievement of these poems is that their totality mirrors humanity as inherently unified. We are all parts of.
--Eileen R. Tabios

And here’s another update of my Recently Relished W(h)ine List below. Forgive some of the crap in there—during my recent travel, I ran out of books and had to read through a particular bookshelf where Harlequin romances were ever present; my problem is I'd rather read anything than not be reading. Anyway, in the Publications section, note that if you see an asterisk before the title, that means a review copy is available for Galatea Resurrects! More info on that HERE.


SUMMER CITY SLICKER HARVEST
5 strawberries
3 sprigs of mint
24 yellow squash
11 eggplant
8 zucchini
3 bell peppers
0 plums for the season—zero, because the birds et ‘em all!


PUBLICATIONS
PLURAL, poems by Christopher Stackhouse (see above blurb)

RE VEILED (A TAPADAS TALE), poems by Jim McCrary (luminous)

* ROUGH, AND SAVAGE, poems by Sun Yung Shin

* CHELTENHAM, poems by Adam Fieled (music dynamited)

* FOR THE CITY THAT NEARLY BROKE ME, poems by Barbara Jane Reyes (ya know: I think someone should review—compare—this book with Maged Zaher’s below)

* THE REVOLUTION HAPPENED AND YOU DIDN'T CALL ME by Maged Zaher (ya know: I think someone should review—compare—this book with Barbara Jane Reyes’ chap above)

TURTLE ISLAND, poems with prose by Gary Snyder

YELLOW FIELD 6, poetry and arts journal curated by Edric Mesmer (stand-out in indie publishing)

HOUSE ORGAN No. 79, literary journal edited by Kenneth Warren (ditto: another stand-out in indie publishing)

QUARRTSILUNI: MUTATING THE SIGNATURE, edited by Dave Bonta and Beth Adams (ditto twice: another stand-out in indie publishing)

THE WRITER ON HER WORK, VOLUME 1, (essays by Anne Tyler, Joan Didion, Mary Gordon, Nancy Milford, Honor Moore, Michele Murray, Margaret Walker, Susan Griffin, Alice Walker, Ingrid Bengis, Toni Cade Bambara, Erica Jong, Maxine Hong Kingston, Janet Burroway, Muriel Rukeyser and Gail Godwin) Edited by Janet Sternburg

CRAZY BRAVE, memoir by Joy Harjo (a poet’s memoir indeed)

JOURNAL OF A SOLITUDE by May Sarton (another re-read as it never fails to satisfy)

INVISIBLE WRITER: A BIOGRAPHY OF JOYCE CAROL OATES by Greg Johnson

THE THIRD CHAPTER: PASSION, RISK AND ADVENTURE IN THE 25 YEARS AFTER 50, psychology/journalism by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot

JESSICA Z, novel by Shawn Klomparens

JURY OF ONE, novel by David Elllis

SLASH AND BURN, novel by Matt Hilton

SOFT FOCUS, novel by Jayne Ann Krentz

LONGING UNVEILED, novel by Meredith Kingston

HEIRLOOM, novel by Candace Camp

HRH, novel by Danielle Steel

PURSUIT, novel by Thomas Perry

WINES
La Terre Chardonnay
2011 Maysie Rose of Sangiovese, Mendocino